


Reparo

by spookyghostcurves



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Caretaking, F/M, Female pronouns for Pidge, Fluff, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-21 14:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7391377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyghostcurves/pseuds/spookyghostcurves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shiro’s cyborg arm gets badly damaged in a brush with the Galra, Pidge tries her best to fix it for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reparo

Shiro’s arm clattered against Pidge’s workstation, the sound making both paladins cringe.

 

The limb had been dead weight ever since one of the Galra’s bots managed to catch it with a destabilizer. Apparently the fleet knew what to expect should they come into close contact with the paladin of the black lion, and that was unsettling in its own right. The arm didn’t feel like a part of Shiro’s body anymore, just weight bolted into his skin and dragging his shoulder down with it.  
  
Needless to say, it was not a pleasant sensation.

 

Luckily, in their months battling Zarkon and his forces, Pidge had become a pseudo-expert in Galra tech. She gathered data from whatever bits and pieces she came by, and had already developed a translation program on her computer that expedited the processes exponentially. “I’m not sure how long this will take, so you should probably sit down,” she said, pushing her chair out for him. He nodded and took a seat, his expression weary as Pidge pulled out a small screwdriver. She looked ready to work, but stopped just short of trying to open the arm up.  
  
“Actually, I should probably ask… When this was operational, did you get any sensations from it? Like, when you touched something, could you still feel it like it was a real arm?”  
  
“Well…” Shiro rubbed at the back of his neck, already scraping to remember what having the functioning arm was like. “I could feel pressure, I guess. Only in my hand, though, the rest of it felt pretty numb.” Pidge nodded. “Well, in that case you might want to brace yourself. When I get it working again, it might hurt to have me poking around. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I suppose.” She gave a little shrug and started to work, using the screwdriver to pry one of the arm’s panels open and wincing as a small bit of smoke escaped.  
  
“Yikes, it’s really fried in here,” she whistled, leaning in close to get a look at the fine inner workings. Shiro didn’t seem impressed. “’Oh this is no big deal, Shiro, I’ll have you fixed up in no time,’ would be a lot more reassuring right now.” Pidge gave him a smug grin and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Puh-lease. You underestimate me. The thing could be in pieces and I’d still have you fixed up in no time.”  
  
Pidge’s confidence brought an amused smirk to Shiro’s face. “Alright, alright. You’re the expert, I’ll leave you to it.” With a little hum, she went back to work, gently removing fried conduits and measuring new ones from a spool in her kit.  
  
“To be honest, I’ve wanted to take a look at this thing for a while now,” she admitted, “Not to say I’m glad you got hurt or anything, because you know I’m not, it’s just… Silver linings and all that.”  
  
“You could’ve just asked, I would have let you have a look.”  
  
“Nah, you have more important things to do than sit around and let me play with your arm,” Pidge dismissed without looking up. She preferred keeping to herself anyway. The rest of Team Voltron were her ragtag family, of course, and she knew that her care for them was mutual. But somehow she always felt like an outsider compared to them. Perhaps it was because most of them had someone else they were closest to, a “best friend” of sorts. Lance and Hunk had been friends since their first day of school together, Keith and Shiro had some vague but very real history between them, and of course Allura had Coran. And then there was Pidge, who sometimes still got the aching fear that she didn’t belong despite the others’ assurance that she did.  
  
“I think getting to watch you work sounds like a great way to spend my time,” Shiro insisted, his voice warm as ever and drawing that annoying heat to the tips of Pidge’s ears. She pursed her lips and gave him a playful nudge. “Don’t patronize me.”  
  
“I mean it!” Shiro went on, using his good arm to push Pidge’s laptop closer as she struggled to reach it without taking her hand off the machinery. “Your tech has saved the whole team more than once. I’d love to watch you in action. Besides, you’ve got to get lonely in here all by yourself.”  
  
“Not really, no,” Pidge lied, sweeping the discarded wires into a bin before moving on to the more delicate operation of readjusting the arm’s power source. “I like the quiet. It’s refreshing after spending an entire mission with Lance and Keith arguing into my ears.”  
  
“Don’t I know it,” Shiro chuckled. “But if you think I’m as noisy Lance and Keith, I really have to work on my image.”  
  
“Wait, that’s not what I meant, you don’t argue with anyone as much as they do – I don’t think anyone does, really – What I really mean is… Well,” Pidge sighed and set her tools aside for a moment, looking up at Shiro with a bashful pout. “You shouldn’t feel obligated to hang out with me, I really don’t mind working by myself.”  
  
“Who said I felt obligated?” he asked, his expression going soft as Pidge finally looked him in the eye. “I wouldn’t tell you that I wanted to be in here if it wasn’t the truth. I just like spending time with you, Katie.” He relished in Pidge’s expression as he used her real name – brown eyes opening wide for a moment before she quickly looked away. She was blushing and he knew it without having to see it.  
  
“I like having you around too, Takashi,” she piped up after a brief silence, making him grin from ear to ear.  
  
Shiro let her work without interruption for a while, content just to watch as she tinkered away at his arm. She’d hooked it up to her computer to run some diagnostics, and Shiro took a moment to appreciate the look of utmost concentration as she glanced back and forth from her screen to his arm. Funny to think that face and the silly, toothy smile he was lucky enough to catch now and then belonged to the same person. Once or twice Shiro’s mechanical hand gave an involuntary jolt. It startled both of them, _both_ times, and had them laughing together after each. With each passing minute Shiro was solidifying his decision more and more that yes, he would definitely have to spend some more time in Pidge’s hangar. The repair _was_ taking a while though, and eventually Shiro nodded off, his chin resting in his good hand.  
  
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he was roused by a little shake to his shoulder.  
  
“Rise and shine, sleepy head,” Pidge said proudly, gesturing to his arm. The panel was still off and he was still hooked up to Pidge’s computer, but the inner chasm was illuminated with a purple glow that told him it was working again. “Pidge, that’s incredible!” he praised, curling his fingers experimentally to test them out.  
  
“I know,” she said nonchalantly, looking back to her screen. “The pressure sensitivity is still out of whack in your hand though, I just need to know what level to set it at. Just lay your hand flat on the table for me.” Shiro obeyed, leaving his palm face up.  
  
Pidge rested her own hand over his, and he noticed she was very pointedly avoiding eye contact. It was adorable, to think the innocent act of holding his hand was enough to get such a rise out of her. “I’m going to push down and adjust your sensitivity, you just tell me when you’re able to feel about the same amount of pressure your regular hand can take.”  
  
“Alright.”  
  
With that, Pidge entered a number into the dialogue box on her screen and gave his hand a tentative push. “How’s that?”  
  
“I can’t really feel it.”  
  
“Okay, how about… this?” she asked, adjusting the number and pressing again.  
  
Shiro grit his teeth and curled in on himself a bit. Pidge snatched her hand away. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Too high, that is way too high,” she concluded, dialing the number down once again before resting her hand back in his. She was afraid to press into his palm again.  
  
“How about now?”  
  
Shiro held off for a moment, fearing another jolt of pain. But when he pressed his thumb against Pidge’s, it didn’t hurt. Quite the contrary, in fact. With a little smile, he laced his fingers between Pidge’s and gave her hand a squeeze, one that drew her flustered attention away from the screen at last.  
  
“That’s perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Critiques are appreciated! Fic requests are open at my Voltron blog, http://voltronpoint.tumblr.com/ !


End file.
